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The source code is available on github.com/connor-french/cv.

Last updated on 2022-11-28.

Main

Connor M. French

Education

PhD Candidate, Biology- Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior

New York, New York

City University of New York

current - 2018

  • Population genetic patterns and processes from local to global scales

M.S., Zoology

Carbondale, Illinois

Southern Illinois University

2018 - 2016

  • Systematics, phylogeography, and landscape genetics of the Ameerega petersi group (family Dendrobatidae)
  • Cooperative Wildlife Research Lab

B.S., Biology- Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior

Austin, Texas

University of Texas

2015 - 2011

  • Includes coursework from the University of North Texas

Research Experience

Graduate Research Assistant

Michael J. Hickerson Lab

City University of New York

current - 2018

  • Investigating evolutionary responses to environmental change across spatial scales.

Software Developer

Andrew Rominger

University of Maine

current - 2022

Graduate Research Assistant

Jason L. Brown Lab

Southern Illinois University

2018 - 2016

  • Completed thesis work on the evolution of Andean poison frogs.

Research Assistant

Texas Biodiversity Collections

University of Texas

2016 - 2016

  • Herpetology Division
  • Supported data collection and collections management for conservation efforts.

Undergraduate Researcher

Daniel I. Bolnick Lab

University of Texas

2014 - 2013

  • Completed an independent project through the National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates. Experimental design, field work in British Columbia, lab work, data analysis, and first-author publication.

Undergraduate Researcher

David Cannatella Lab

University of Texas

2014 - 2013

  • Field work in support of frog acoustic research.

Field Technician

Middlesex, Belize

Toucan Ridge Ecology and Education Society

2014 - 2014

  • Designed and executed field protocols for monitoring amphibian populations.

Collections Assistant

Texas Biodiversity Collections

University of Texas

2014 - 2014

  • Ichthyology Division
  • Collected and analyzed fish morphometric data for taxonomic research and digitized research collections.




Teaching Experience

Ecology and Evolution

CCNY Biology Department

New York, NY

2022 - 2022

  • TA, BIO 228
  • Led and prepared labs.

Reproducible Research

City College of New York

New York, NY

2022 - 2022

  • Co-organizer and panelist. 1.5 hour panel on techniques for reproducible research.
  • Hosted for members of the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior PhD program.

R for Reproducible Scientific Analysis

Columbia University

New York, NY

2021 - 2021

  • Invited workshop.
  • Half-day online workshop as part of the Pre-Statistics Course Bootcamp.
  • Facilitated by Software Carpentries.

Introduction to Text Analysis in R

CUNY Graduate Center

New York, NY

2021 - 2021

  • 1.5 hour online workshop for CUNY Graduate Center faculty and students.
  • Hosted on rstudio.cloud.
  • Given as part of the GC Digital Fellows.

Digital Research Institute

CUNY Graduate Center

New York, NY

2021 - 2020

  • Five day series of workshops introducing CUNY faculty and students to digital tools for research.
  • Two sessions- one in January 2020 and one in February 2021.
  • Led the R track.

Reproducible Data Analysis in R

CUNY Graduate Center

New York, NY

2020 - 2020

  • 2.5 hour workshop on using RMarkdown and github for reproducible data analysis.
  • Hosted within the workr R package as an interactive tutorial.
  • Given as part of the GC Digital Fellows

Data Visualization in R

CUNY Graduate Center

New York, NY

2020 - 2020

  • 2.5 hour workshop on using ggplot2 for data visualization.
  • Hosted within the workr R package as an interactive tutorial.
  • Given as part of the GC Digital Fellows

Exploring population structure in R with adegenet and sNMF

CUNY Graduate Center

New York, NY

2020 - 2020

  • 1.5 hour online workshop given to an international group of evolutionary biology faculty and graduate students as part of the four day Bioinformatics Bootcamp for Ecology and Evolution.

Introduction to R and RStudio

CUNY Graduate Center

New York, NY

2020 - 2020

  • Two hour online workshop for CUNY Graduate Center faculty and students.
  • Given as part of the GC Digital Fellows.

Introduction to population structure inference in R

SIUC Zoology Department

Carbondale, IL

2019 - 2019

  • Invited workshop.
  • Two hour workshop for Zoology graduate and undergraduate students.

Introductory R and RStudio

CUNY Graduate Center

New York, NY

2019 - 2019

  • Invited workshop.
  • 1.5 hour workshop for graduate students in the Quantitative Zoogeography graduate course.

Bioinformatic processing of ultraconserved elements for phylogenetic analysis

SIUC Zoology Department

Carbondale, IL

2019 - 2019

  • Two hour workshop to introduce graduate students to a bioinformatic pipeline.

SLiM 5-day workshop

CUNY Biology Department

New York, NY

2019 - 2019

  • Co-organized five full-day workshop on SLiM population genetic simulation program

Data Wrangling in R

CUNY Graduate Center

New York, NY

2019 - 2019

  • 2.5 hour workshop on using the tidyverse for data manipulation.
  • Hosted within the workr R package as an interactive tutorial.
  • Given as part of the GC Digital Fellows

BioSkills

SIUC Biology Department

Carbondale, IL

2018 - 2017

  • TA, BIO 212
  • Co-developed material for new writing and discussion-based course section.
  • Concurrently ran ecology and developmental biology sections.

Introduction to Evolution and Ecology Lab

SIUC Biology Department

Carbondale, IL

2017 - 2017

  • TA, BIO 212
  • Led and prepared labs.

Vertebrate Anatomy Lab

SIUC Zoology Department

Carbondale, IL

2017 - 2017

  • TA, ZOOL 418
  • Led and prepared labs.
  • Advised undergraduate lab assistant.

Reptile and amphibian survey and capture techniques

SIUC Zoology Department

Carbondale, IL

2017 - 2017

  • Invited lecture, Curation of Collections (PLB 401).
  • One hour lecture on best practices for herpetological surveys.

Appropriate techniques for identifying and handling reptiles and amphibians in the field.

SIUC Zoology Department

Carbondale, IL

2017 - 2017

  • Invited lecture, SIUC Wildlife Techniques (ZOOL 469).
  • One hour lecture and field demonstration on best practices for herpetological surveys.

Introductory Biology for Non-Majors Lab

SIUC Zoology Department

Carbondale, IL

2016 - 2016

  • TA, ZOOL 115
  • Led and prepared labs.

Instructor

Camp Einstein Afterschool STEM Program

Austin, TX

2016 - 2016

  • Summer afterschool program for early elementary school students.

Biostatistics

UT Biology Department

Austin, TX

2015 - 2014

  • Undergraduate TA
  • Assisted graduate TA with leading and grading R programming labs, and facilitating course discussion.

Selected Writing

Sonification for Data Communication

N/A

New York, NY

2021

  • Post introducing the concept of sonification, its uses, and its benefits.

RStudio Cloud for Education

N/A

New York, NY

2020

  • Post outlining the advantages of using the RStudio Cloud system for teaching.

Funding sources for undergraduate research in ecology and evolution

N/A

New York, NY

2020

  • Post highlighting funding resources for undergraduate research

PDIG Training Grant Spotlight: Connor French

N/A

New York, NY

2019

  • Overview of a project I used the Provost’s Digital Innovation Grant to prepare for.

Interactively explore geographic data in R using leaflet

N/A

New York, NY

2019

  • Walk through of creating an interactive map in R.

Preprints

Global determinants of the distribution of insect genetic diversity

bioRxiv. 10.1101/2022.02.09.479762

N/A

2022

  • French, C.M., Bertola, L.D., Carnaval, A.C., Economo, E.P., Kass, J.M., Lohman, D.J., Marske, K.A., Meier, R., Overcast, I., Rominger, A.J., Staniczenko, P., Hickerson, M.J.

Publications

Forest cover and geographical distance influence fine-scale genetic structure of leaf-toed geckos in the tropical dry forests of western Mexico

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 137(4), pp. 686-699

N/A

2022

  • French, C.M., Berezin, C.T., Overcast, I., De La Cruz, F.R.M., Basu, S., Bernal, R.L.M., Murphy, R.W., Hickerson, M.J., Blair, C.

Phylogenetic relationships and systematics of the Amazonian poison frog genus Ameerega using ultraconserved genomic elements

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 142, 106638.

N/A

2020

  • Wilson, G.X., French, C.M., Twomey, E.M., Chávez, G., Prates, I, von May, R., la Riva, I.D., Lötters, S., Reichle, S., Serrano-Rojas, S.J., Whitworth, A., Brown, J.L.

Morphological correlates of invasion in Florida cane toad (Rhinella marina) populations: Shortening of legs and reduction in leg asymmetry as populations become established

Acta Oecologica. 109, 103652

N/A

2020

  • Rubio, A.O., French, C.M., Catenazzi, A.

Speciation with introgression: Phylogeography and systematics of the Ameerega petersi group (Dendrobatidae).

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 138, 31-42.

N/A

2019

  • French, C.M., Deutsch, M.S., Chávez G., Almora C.E., Brown, J.L.

The tadpole of Ameerega boehmei in southeastern Bolivia

Zootaxa. 4661, 1.

N/A

2019

  • French, C.M., Burkette, C., Reichle, S., Brown, J.L.

Geographical variation in colour of female threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus).

PeerJ. 6:e4807.

N/A

2018

  • French, C.M., Ingram, T., and Bolnick, D.I.

Rana juliani. Vocalization.

Mesoamerican Herpetology. 4(1). pp. 170.

N/A

2017

  • French, C.M., Kilborn, V., and Jäger, K.L.

Diadophis punctatus regalis (Regal Ringneck Snake). DIET.

Herpetological Review. 48(2). pp. 448.

N/A

2017

  • French, C.M.

SDMtoolbox 2.0: the next generation python-based: GIS toolkit for landscape genetic, biogeographic and species distribution model analyses.

PeerJ. 5:e4095.

N/A

2017

  • Brown, J.L., Bennett, J., and French, C.M.

Talks and Posters

Estimating spatial demographic patterns in a dynamic environment with species distribution models and genome-wide data

Evolution

N/A

2022

  • French, C.M., Hickerson, M.J., Carnaval, A.C.
  • Oral presentation
  • Presidential symposium: Species distributions and coexistence: the intersection of evolution and ecology.

Determinants of the global distribution of genetic diversity in terrestrial insects

New York Species Distribution Modeling Discussion Group

N/A

2021

  • French, C.M.
  • Invited presentation

Comparative phylogeography of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest leaf litter lizards (genus Enyalius)

World Congress of Herpetology

N/A

2020

  • French, C.M., Damasceno, R., Rodrigues, M., Carnaval, A.C., Hickerson, M.J.
  • Oral presentation

Using genetics to understand species responses to climate change

New York City College of Technology- Systematics Undergraduate Course

N/A

2020

  • French, C.M.
  • Invited presentation

A dynamic history in the Tropical Andes: phylogeography and systematics of the Ameerega petersi group (Dendrobatidae)

Evolution

N/A

2019

  • French, C.M., and Brown, J.L.
  • Oral presentation

Predicting global insect genetic diversity

Evolution

N/A

2019

  • French, C.M., Bertola, L., Hickerson, M.J.
  • Poster presentation

Climate-driven diversification in a clade of Peruvian poison frogs

Evolution

N/A

2017

  • French, C.M., Brown, J.L.
  • Oral presentation

Climate fluctuation as a driver of diversification in a clade of Peruvian poison frogs

Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists

N/A

2017

  • French, C.M., Brown, J.L.
  • Oral presentation

Morphological divergence among multiple Notropis oxyrhynchus populations

American Fisheries Society

N/A

2015

  • French, C.M.
  • Poster presentation

Morphological assessment of hybridization between two ranid species, Lithobates juliani and L. vaillanti

Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles

N/A

2015

  • French, C.M.
  • Oral presentation

Peer Review

Journal of Biogeography, Biotropica, Environmental Biology of Fishes, Molecular Ecology, Global Ecology and Biogeography

N/A

N/A

N/A

Awards and Honors

Graduate Center Digital Fellowship

City University of New York

N/A

2021 - 2019

  • $56,250
  • $28,125/year

Helen and Frederick Gaige Fund

American Society of Ichthyology and Herpetology

N/A

2020

  • $900

Provost’s Pre-Dissertation Research Fellowship for the Sciences

City University of New York

N/A

2020

  • $5,000

Student Scholarship

World Congress of Herpetology

N/A

2020

  • $940

Graduate Research Excellence Grant RC Lewontin Early Award

Society for the Study of Evolution

N/A

2019

  • $2,300

Charles & Florence Foote Teaching Award in Zoology

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

N/A

2018

  • $750

Biodiversity Under Environmental Change Seed Grant

City College of New York

N/A

2018

  • $2,500

Digital Initiatives Training Grant

City University of New York

N/A

2018

  • $500

Zoology Graduate Student Association Travel Award

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

N/A

2017

  • $100

Undergraduate Research Fellowship

University of Texas at Austin

N/A

2015

  • $1,000

University Honors

University of Texas at Austin

N/A

2014

General Education Scholarship

University of North Texas

N/A

2012 - 2011

  • $6,000

Dean’s List

University of North Texas

N/A

2012

Mentorship

Undergraduate Diversity at Evolution

Evolution Meeting

N/A

2019

  • Mentored two undergraduates attending their first conference

Krista Jäger

Dalhousie University

N/A

2017 - 2016

  • Assisted honors thesis investigating ranid frog population genetics
  • Co-authored natural history note on Rana juliani vocalization

Michael Deutsche

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

N/A

2017

  • Undergraduate assistant, learning lab techniques and experimental design in anuran morphometrics
  • Senior project on poison frog call variation
  • Co-authored resulting publication

Outreach

Predicting global insect diversity

Science Day

City College of New York

2019

  • Invited oral presentation

Peru: where plan C comes first

Herpetology Club

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

2017

  • Oral presentation

There and back again: divergence and convergence in poison frogs

Darwin Week

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

2017

  • Invited oral presentation

Sightseers slither into southern Illinois for Snake Road

Daily Egyptian

N/A

2017

  • Interview

Frog diversity and evolution

Kealing Middle School Magnet Program Zoology Club

N/A

2016

  • Invited lecture

Frogs: weird wonders of the natural world

Lamar Fine Arts Academy Middle School

N/A

2016

  • Invited lecture

Computational Workshops and Courses

Applied Machine Learning

R Studio Conference

Austin, TX

2019

  • Workshop

Machine Learning for Scientists

City University of New York

N/A

2019

  • Course

The Fundamentals of UX Research

City University of New York

N/A

2019

  • Workshop

Genome Assembly and Annotation

American Museum of Natural History

N/A

2019

  • Workshop

Analysis of Rad-Sequence Data (RadCamp)

Instituto de Biociências

Universidade de São Paulo

2018

  • Workshop

Biostatistics

City University of New York

N/A

2018

  • Course

Introduction to GIS

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

N/A

2017

  • Course

Quantitative Zoogeography

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

N/A

2017

  • Course

Intermediate Computational Statistics

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

N/A

2016

  • Course

Biostatistics

University of Texas at Austin

N/A

2014

  • Course

Intro to NGS Bioinformatics

University of Texas at Austin

N/A

2013

  • Workshop

Affiliations

Society for the Study of Evolution

N/A

N/A

current - 2017